Dust and gas surrounding the supermassive black hole accretion disk in galaxy NGC 4151 is reflecting an echo from an x-ray emitting source high above the disk. This helps scientists map the environment around (and created by) the black hole.

Astronomers have seen evidence that a supermassive black hole 2.7 billion light years away has shredded a star. In this visualization, some of the murdered star's debris falls into the void, but some is spun up and shot out at high velocities.

Due to launch in the Spring of 2012, NASA's NuSTAR mission will scan for lively black holes, radioactive supernova remnants, galactic jets that shoot out at nearly light-speed and other sources of high-energy X-rays.

The space telescope captured an amazing view of spiral galaxy NGC 1073 and three quasars that are right outside its galactic neighborhood. Located in the constellation of Cetus, the galaxy has a bar structure in the center similar to the Milky Way.

Light traveling for 10 billion years now gives astronomers a glimpse into the largest galaxies in the Universe. Found in the Fornax constellation, these galaxies (highlighted in red) burst on the cosmic scene with very rapid, intense star formation.